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Report: Yorkshire Regional Road Race Championships

Sigma Sport Specialized's Kit Gilham became 2011 Yorkshire Regional Road Race Champion in a calamitous finish on hard roads and in challenging, changeable weather conditions, reports Andy May:

The race was dramatic from the outset, with heavy rain, bright sunshine and a hail storm lashing the riders on and off for the whole race. The first couple of laps were strewn with attempted breaks but no one could make anything stick. Then on lap three Tom Murray of Sigma Sports Specialised, who had told me not an hour before he envisaged a group of three or four contesting the finish broke clear, on his own! This was an incredibly audacious move so early in the race, but he had told me he felt strong and no one knew the roads better than him, so cheered on by his mum, dad and girlfriend amongst others he rode away from the bunch.

Kevin Dawson of Sportscover Strategic Altura and Matthew Robinson of All Terrain Cycles went off the front a lap later to try and get across but whilst they held Murray, they couldn't bring him back. Realising that Murray, nor Dawson or Robinson were going to blow, the bunch went up a gear to try and bring them all back, breaking in two in the process. Kit Gilham of Sigma Sports Specialised, Duncan Moralee of Sports Cover Strategic Altura, Tom Barras of Cycle Premier Metaltek, Scott Thwaites of Endura and Jack Cutsforth of Herbalife/ Wheelbase formed the chase group and brought Dawson and Robinson back two laps from home.

That just left Tom Murray out on his own, where he'd been for over 40 miles. As he heard the bell he had just over a minute on the bunch, which was less than half what he'd had at his best, but he still looked strong and no one really expected him to be caught. Then, as the time came for them to appear we heard on the race radio that they were all together! Sure enough, as the lead cars lights came into view a good mile from the constant incline to the finish line we had a bunch at the head of the race. By far the two strongest sprinters were Enduras Scott Thwaites who had proved that very point by winning the Lincoln Grand Prix two weeks earlier and Tom Barras of Cycle Premier Metaltek who had won this event on the same circuit two years previously.

Above: The moment of truth for Scott Thwaites (left) and Tom Barras (right), as Thwaites makes a less polished job of race finishing than he did in the Lincoln GP. Behind Sigma's Gilham steers around the unlucky Barras and rolls on to take the regional champs title. That's racing...

As they accelerated away from the others and with 500 yards to the line Thwaites put his head down to give it a final dig but unfortunately misjudged a parked car on the side of the road, clipped it and brought himself and Barras down! This left Kit Gilham who had resigned himself to third, a clear road to the line and an incredible victory, followed home by Kevin Dawson, Duncan Moralee, Matt Robinson, Tom Barras who had managed to get back on his bike and Scott Thwaites who walked over the line. Jack Cutsforth followed and then a short while later Tom Murray who really deserved more after such an incredible solo ride in appalling conditions.

After the race I spoke to Kit:

"There was a lot of attacking early on but nothing really stuck and then my team mate Tom Murray got away. I thought he was in a group of three with Kev Dawson and Matt Robinson so I just went with every little move that happened after that, but didn't ride obviously because Tom was up the road. And then we caught Kev and Matt and Tom wasn't there, which was good for me because it meant I could just keep sitting on, so I had a pretty easy ride considering the cross winds and the hail! I was just lucky Tom had such a good ride. We caught him with half a lap to go, so I thought I better try and do something to salvage something for the team. In the sprint I was on for third, I'd pretty much sat up but then Scott & Tom (Barras) crashed into each other and fell off. I didn't really see what happened. I just saw a couple of bikes in the air and people on the road so I thought I better start sprinting again. I managed to get round them and won by default really but I'll take any win that comes. I'm happy we've kept the title in the team, with Tom (Murray) being defending champion from last year."

RESULT

Elite/1st/2nd/3rd

1, Kit Gilham. Sigma Sports Specialised
2, Kevin Dawson. Sports Cover Strategic Altura
3, Duncan Moralee. Spoorts Cover Strategic Altura
4, Matt Robinson. All Terrain Cycles
5, Tom Barras. Cycle Premier Metaltek
6, Scott Thwaites. Endura
7, Jack Cutsforth. Herbalife/ Wheelbase
8, Tom Murray. Sigma Sports Specialised
9, Ash Brown. Sports Cover Strategic Altura
10, Rob Watkinson. Doncaster Wheelers CC

Vets

1, Paul Bell. Peak RC
2, Paul Dixon. VS Cycles
3, Steve Gibson. Peak RC
4, Stephen Bottomley. Crosstrax
5, Richard Binks. Holme Valley Wheelers
6, Mick Rowson. RVO Racing
7, Barry Mordue. Crosstrax
8, Mark Jacobi. Peak RC
9, Tony Grassby. Peak RC
10, Steve Johnson. Private member

Juniors.

1, Edward McParland. GT Racing UK
2, Ashley Proctor. Sheffrec CC
3, Joseph Moses. Paul Milnes Cycles
4, Nicholas Barnes. Zepnat RT
5, Michael Knight. Chevin Bang & Olufson
6, James Baillie. Sheffield Sports CC
7, Jordan Hargreaves. Team Wallis

Women.

1, Samantha Buckingham. Wakefield CC Exponential
2, Iona Sewell. Squadra Donne / Bike Food

British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.